Adaptation timescales of estuarine systems to human interventions

Many estuaries and tidal basins are strongly influenced by various human interventions (land reclamations, infrastructure development, channel deepening, dredging and disposal of sediments). Such interventions lead to a range of hydrodynamic and morphological responses (a changing channel depth, tidal amplitude and/or suspended sediment...

Formation of the Zeebrugge coastal turbidity maximum: The role of uncertainty in near-bed exchange processes

Despite availability of a large amount of observational data and modelling studies, the mechanisms maintaining the Turbidity Maximum in the Belgian-Dutch coastal zone around the port of Zeebrugge (Belgium) are insufficiently understood. In order to better understand the dynamics of this turbidity maximum we examine the role of baroclinic ...

SPM response to tide and river flow in the hyper-turbid Ems River

In this paper, we analyse the behaviour of fine sediments in the hyper-turbid Lower Ems River, with focus on the river’s upper reaches, a stretch of about 25 km up-estuary of Terborg. Our analysis is based on long records of suspended particulate matter (SPM) from optical backscatter (OBS) measurements close to the bed at seven stations along...

Regime shifts in a D3D schematized Scheldt model: recent progress

The Ems and Loire evolved into hyper-turbid estuaries in the course of the 20th<br/>century. Winterwerp et al. (2013 a, b) argued that narrowing and deepening of these<br/>rivers induced a regime shift towards these hyper-turbid conditions. This regime<br/>shift was presumed to be driven by a positive feed-back between tidal<br/>amplification,...

Sediment trapping in the Zeebrugge Coastal Turbidity Maximum

The mechanisms leading to the formation and maintenance of a Coastal Turbidity Maximum (CTM) along the Belgian coastline was investigated using a complex 3D numerical model. Interpretation of model results suggests that the sediment concentration in this CTM may have strongly increased as a result of human interventions in the 1980’s. The large...

Net sediment transport by tidal asymmetry in the hyper-turbid Ems River

Fine sediment transport into the hyperturbid lower Ems River: The role of channel deepening and sediment-induced drag reduction

Deepening of estuarine tidal channels often leads to tidal amplification and increasing fine sediment import. Increasing fine sediment import, in turn, may lower the hydraulic drag (due to a smoother muddy bed and/or sediment-induced damping of turbulence), and therefore, further strengthen tidal amplification, setting in motion a process in...

Tidal divides

Assessment of the effects of the Zuider Sea closure on the hydrodynamics of the Wadden Sea inlets

Large hydrodynamic and morphodynamic changes have taken place in the western Dutch Wadden Sea due to the closure of the Zuider Sea in the early 1930s. Hydrodynamic simulations for three situations, viz. just before the closure, just after the closure and at present, have been carried out in order to investigate the hydrodynamic changes since the...

Een dijk van een kwelder: Een verkenning naar de golfreducerende werking van kwelders

Dit rapport geeft een samenvatting van relevant onderzoek naar de golfreducerende werking van kwelders en schetst de randvoorwaarden voor kweldervorming. Kwelders vormen een zone in het intergetijdengebied die de golven beïnvloeden door de weerstand van de bodem en de kweldervegetatie. De golfreducerende werking is afhankelijk van de hoogte en...

Development of tidal watersheds in the Wadden Sea

The Wadden Sea consists of a series of tidal lagoons which are connected to the North Sea by tidal inlets. Boundaries to each lagoon are the mainland coast, the barrier islands on both sides of the tidal inlet, and the tidal watersheds behind the two barrier islands. Behind each Wadden Island there is a tidal watershed separating two adjacent...